A homeless woman gathers her belongings before Denver Police and Public Works personnel begin to clear camps near Samaritan House on Tuesday afternoon, March 8, 2016.

In this Monday, March 7, 2016, photograph, Salvatore Garofalo sits in a lawn chair in a makeshift homeless camp across from the Denver Rescue Mission in downtown Denver. City officials are planning to evict people on Tuesday from the homeless camps that have popped up around homeless shelters and in public places around the Mile High City. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

In this Monday, March 7, 2016, photo, Salvatore Garofalo sits in a lawn chair as he smokes a cigarette in a makeshift homeless camp across from the Denver Rescue in downtown Denver. City officials are planning to evict people from the homeless camps that have popped up around homeless shelters and in public places around the Mile High City. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

DENVER, CO - MARCH 7: A homeless person stays dry underneath a tarp with his belongings along Park Ave West in Denver, Colorado on March 7, 2016 in Denver, Colorado. The city of Denver plans to clear out homeless camps in the Ballpark neighborhood. Notices were put up to inform the homeless that they needed to move their belongings along city streets. Salvatore, who said he was a first responder at Ground Zero during 9/11 as a concrete excavator, says he suffers from COPD and fibrosis from being at Ground Zero for over 14 months. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

DENVER, CO - MARCH 7: Kenny, who gave only his first name, and a homeless man, smokes a cigarette in front of piles of other people's personal belongings along Park Ave West in Denver, Colorado on March 7, 2016 in Denver, Colorado. The city of Denver plans to clear out homeless camps in the Ballpark neighborhood. Notices were put up to inform the homeless that they needed to move their belongings along city streets. Salvatore, who said he was a first responder at Ground Zero during 9/11 as a concrete excavator, says he suffers from COPD and fibrosis from being at Ground Zero for over 14 months. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

Homeless people and their advocates screamed obscenities Tuesday as public works crews cleared away camps where many of the homeless have been living.

Denver police stood by, receiving their share of abuse.

“You ought to be ashamed of yourselves,” they called out as work crews bagged the belongings of those who either weren’t there to protect them or couldn’t carry away everything they owned.

City workers descended in force on the area, with police cars, a garbage truck and a flat-bed truck stocked with receptacles in which belongings were collected.

But within hours of the sweep’s completion, one camp had already been resurrected across the street from the Samaritan House Homeless Shelter at Lawrence Street and Park Avenue West.

“Since the last sweep of the same area on a frigid, snowy December night last year, the number of people trying to exist and survive without housing in Denver has continued to grow,” Nathan Woodliff-Stanley, executive director of the ACLU of Colorado, said in a statement.

“Denver residents are understandably discomforted and frustrated by the sight of so many poor and vulnerable people living in extreme poverty. The answer to that discomfort and frustration cannot be … draconian sweeps that push away and attempt to hide impoverished people,” Woodliff-Stanley said.

The city warned last week that any items left on public sidewalks or other public property would be removed on Tuesday. Crews who have been cleaning the area since the camp first formed last summer have removed syringes, human waste and other materials, the city says.

The conditions pose a risk to public health, said Julie Smith, a spokeswoman with Denver Human Services.

Members of city departments and homeless outreach groups have attempted to connect people to shelters and other services, but the camping has persisted.

“That outreach has led to no reduction” in the number of those living on the sidewalk, Smith said.

The homeless, and their advocates, say there aren’t enough beds in shelters for the people who need them. City officials say beds are available.

“They should stop the criminalization of homelessness,” said Ray Lyall of Homeless Out Loud.

“We are not criminals. Nobody out here is trying to break the law,” Lyall said.

Those who are rousted will move into surrounding neighborhoods, he said.

“I live out on the streets,” said Ann Mae Noel, who camps near Samaritan House. “For the most part, this block is my home.”

A sign across the street from Samaritan House alerted people that beginning March 8, the city would remove all property left on public streets and would store it temporarily at 1221 Glenarm Place.

On Tuesday, someone pulled the sign down. A city public works crew came and set the metal sign, which was on a pole, back up. Someone pulled it to the ground again moments after the work crew left.

At times, the scene outside the shelter was like a three-ring circus.

Miguel Lopez, chief event organizer for 4/20 Marijuana Rally, handed out pizza as the homeless and their advocates heckled police.

“This is part of our weed and feed program,” he said.

As one activist waved a sign condemning the action, a man walking by told her: “If you can stand out here and wave that sign, you can go to work.”

As the two argued, the man’s wife, Lorine Bessard, said she and her husband live in an apartment house nearby. “We step out our door, and we get to step over homeless people. We want them to be helped, but I don’t want to come out the door and see poop.”

A man who identified himself only as Van pushed his belongings in a wobbly cart across Park Avenue West as the cleanup went on.

Asked where he would go, he replied, “When nighttime comes, I’ll figure it out.”

A general assignment reporter for The Denver Post, Tom McGhee has covered business, police, courts, higher education and breaking news. He came to The Post from Albuquerque, N.M., where he worked for a year and a half covering utilities. He began his journalism career in New York City, worked for a pair of community weeklies that covered the west side of Manhattan from 14th Street to 125th Street.

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